Chapter 5 - ELENA'S LAST LIEThe silence after Grace's words was unbearable.
Vincent slowly lowered his weapon.
For the first time, he looked confused.
"What did you say?"
Grace stood beside me.
"Mom knows."
"Knows what?"
"How to wake it."
Vincent's expression changed.
I looked at Evelyn.
She seemed to understand something.
"Grace," she whispered.
"What?"
"Don't say anything else."
Vincent smiled.
"Too late."
He pressed a switch.
The room filled with a low electronic hum.
Grace froze.
Her hand went to her chest.
"Grace?"
She didn't answer.
Her breathing became shallow.
Then she collapsed.
I caught her.
"Grace!"
Her eyes were open.
But unfocused.
Even though she couldn't see, I had never seen her look so empty.
Evelyn rushed toward us.
"Put her on the table."
"What?"
"Now."
I laid Grace on a metal examination table.
Evelyn checked her pulse.
"She's responding to something."
"To what?"
"Sound."
Vincent's voice came through the speaker.
"Exactly."
A tone began playing.
One note.
Then another.
Grace's fingers curled.
I shouted:
"Stop it!"
Vincent laughed.
"Do you understand now?"
"What are you doing to her?"
"Nothing."
He smiled through the glass.
"Your wife did this six years ago."
I looked at Elena's image.
She was crying.
"Michael..."
"What did you do to my daughter?"
Elena looked at the camera.
"I had no choice."
I stared at her.
"No choice?"
"I was trying to save her."
"You erased her memory."
"Yes."
"You made her blind."
Elena closed her eyes.
"I had to."
My voice broke.
"Why?"
"Because the Wolf was coming for her."
"Why her?"
Elena whispered:
"Because she is mine."
I frowned.
"What?"
"Grace carries my memories."
Silence.
"Everything I knew..."
Elena said.
"...I put inside her."
I looked at Grace.
"How?"
"A neural conditioning procedure."
I shook my head.
"That's impossible."
"Not to them."
Elena's voice trembled.
"I stole the data before I escaped."
"And put it in our daughter?"
"I had no other choice."
Vincent interrupted.
"Tell him the rest."
Elena refused.
Vincent aimed his gun.
"You know what happens if you don't."
Elena looked into the camera.
Then she smiled.
"Michael."
"What?"
"I lied to you."
My heart sank.
"About what?"
"I didn't marry you because I loved you."
I froze.
Grace suddenly inhaled sharply.
Evelyn looked at her.
The electronic tone stopped.
Grace opened her mouth.
A man's voice came from her.
Not hers.
A recording.
A memory.
"Protocol Zero initiated."
Vincent stepped back.
"What?"
Grace sat upright.
Her head turned toward him.
"I remember you."
Vincent stared.
Grace continued speaking in a voice that was unmistakably her own.
"You were there the night Mom disappeared."
Vincent's face went pale.
"You watched her."
"You were the one who injected me."
"You told them I was useless."
Vincent stepped backward.
"Stop."
Grace smiled.
"And you told Mom..."
Her voice became colder.
"...that Dad would never know."
Vincent raised his gun.
Evelyn shot it from his hand.
Gunfire erupted.
I dragged Grace off the table.
Evelyn fired toward the soldiers.
The room became chaos.
We ran toward the emergency exit.
But before we reached it, the lights went out.
A scream echoed through the laboratory.
Then silence.
When the lights returned, Vincent was gone.
So was Elena.
I looked at Grace.
She was standing perfectly still.
"What happened?"
She turned toward me.
"Dad."
"Yes?"
"You were never the target."
My skin prickled.
"What?"
Grace looked toward the empty room.
"They've been using you to hide me."
"From what?"
She whispered:
"The people who built me."
I stared at her.
Evelyn stepped beside us.
"What do you remember?"
Grace's face changed.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"A room."
"What room?"
"White walls."
She swallowed.
"And a little girl."
I frowned.
"Another girl?"
Grace nodded.
"She looked exactly like me."
My heart stopped.
"Grace..."
May you like
She continued.
"And she wasn't blind."
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